The villager, Ramno Devi, has now given the school authorities three months to vacate her land, throwing the education of students, mostly from weaker sections, into uncertainty.

Education department officials meet villagers as students of a primary school study in the open at Pipal Hattha village in US Nagar district of Uttarakhand.(HT Photo)

A government primary school at Pipal Hattha village in Uttarakhand’s US Nagar district, which does not have its own land and building, runs under a tree on a private plot.

Classes are shifted to a cowshed of the plot owner, Ramno Devi, when it rains. Devi has now given the school authorities three months to vacate her land, throwing the education of students, mostly from weaker sections, into uncertainty.

“Since children destroy crops while playing, I want the school to be shifted from my land,” Devi said.

The school was set up in November 2012 near the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (SIDCUL) area in Sitarganj, around 57 km from Rudrapur.

Even after six years neither the education department nor local representatives initiated efforts to provide land for the construction a school building, villagers said. The school has 44 students.

In 2017, Devi had asked school authorities to vacate her land, but she was persuaded to allow the classes to be run for the whole session. When the new session began in April this year, Devi wanted the school to be shifted, but the teaching staff assured her that they will get land soon and classes will be held there.

Head master Vinay Jaiswal and teacher Karan Singh reached the village on July 2 to reopen the school, but Devi didn’t permit the classes to be held, villagers said. She was assured that land would be available within 15 days and classes would be shifted there.

Classes could not be held on last Monday when Devi did not allow the school to be run on her land. Students returned home, villagers said.

Deputy education officer Sushma Gaurav reached Pipal Hattha on Wednesday and persuaded Devi to permit the school to be run for another three months.

“We have sent a proposal for a piece of SIDCUL land. Hope land will be available to the department soon. Once we get the land, school building will be built,” Gaurav said.